After a 5 year struggle with anorexia (with purging tendencies), depression, self harm and over exercising I have now been recovered for 4 years and i use my blog to help others in the same situation i once was.
I am now a happy and positive person who wants to inspire those struggling to choose recovery and to take control over life and happiness again!

Life without Anorexia

My motto is 'Dont let the sadness of your past & the fear of your future ruin the happiness of your present'

My life at the moment is completely different to how it once was. I spent 5 years sick with anorexia nervosia and depression as well as struggling with self harm and overexercising. I spent 2 years in different treatment centres.

And since 2012 i have been declared healthy from my eating disorder.

I have been blogging for 7 years, and my whole journey is written in my posts. I now represent healthy and happiness. I want to show anyone struggling that it is possible to recover, no matter how hard it may seem.

I now blog about recovery, my life, veganism and positivity!

If you have any questions leave them in the comment section as i am much quicker at answering there, otherwise you can always send an email: lifewithoutanorexia@hotmail.com

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Tuesday, March 10, 2015

Eating disorders and oral health

I just had a quick question. Yesterday I went to the dentists and he told me that I had a new cavity in addition to the one he was going to fill. He said that that wasn't like me and asked me if my diet had changed recently...(I probably should have told him that this past summer I had to eat a lot of sweets to gain weight after starving myself for a while...but that's for another time! haha) but I was wondering if you've had a lot of teeth problems. I know that you purged a lot and that that ruins your teeth but I was wondering if from lack of nutrition and eating a lot of sweets to gain weight if that messed with your teeth??This is actually a really good question and something i dont think i have written so much about... mainly because i dont have so much to say about it. I have been quite lucky with my teeth... when i was younger i pretty much never brushed my teeth, i sucked my thumb for several years so my top teeth were pushed out, but once i stopped sucking my thumb they went back to normal. For several years i purged several times a day for long periods. I spent months drinking 2-4l diet soda per day, i have eaten alot of sweet stuff and still do.... and during my recovery and time at Mando i had to drink about 1-1,5l juice per day...so my teeth? Well im surprised that they look the way they do. They are eroded and not as nice as they could be considering i drink coffee, diet soda (at times) as well as eating lots of chocolate. But i have never had a hole in my teeth, luckily. (Also to mention that my CF care/medicine erodes my teeth -_-')First off, purging is one of the worst things for your teeth. All the acidity erodes them and can lead to holes, sensitivity and lots of pain. If you purge then your dentist can be one of the first people to find out about it, that was one of the reasons i didnt go to the dentist for a very long time as i didnt want them to find out about my purging. But then also if you dont eat alot i know that can mess up your teeth its like bacteria and acidity forms as well as having very bad breath. (This is something you can google if you want to know more as i dont know loads about this, its just that i have heard it from a doctor in a documentary). But then things like diet soda, lots of acidic juice, coffee, sugar can all mess up your teeth. In recovery it is recommended to drink juice and milk as well as eating more sweet stuff - this is to help you overcome your fear foods. To overcome your fear of sugar, carbs, fat, processed food etc and like i have written in a previous post when you are in recovery it is NOT the same as being recovered. The same rules dont apply. However your dentist might say otherwise. My dentist didnt like the fact that i had to drink so much juice and eat ice cream and pasteries and such when i was in recovery... But she gave me a tip to always rinse my mouth with water afterwards. So that can be a tip for you all if you drink soda/coffee/juice or sweet things. But over brushing your teeth isnt good either... just like if you eat/drink acidic things or you just purged then DONT brush your teeth, that will make it even worse. Instead wait a while before brushing your teeth.I would suggest that you eat what is on your meal plan/you keep eating sweet foods, you dont need to eat them everyday, not even in recovery. However you might eat sweet things more frequently than if you werent in recovery ,but this is just a phase in your life and when you are a normal weight or when foods arent fear foods then you dont need to eat them as often, just as much as your body craves it. Whether that is once a week or once a month. But you want to overcome the fear of all foods and have a healthy relationship with food, even if your dentist might tell you that you should never eat candy or sweets. Everything in moderation. Just make sure to try to keep your teeth as healthy and clean as possible for your own sake as well as your dentist sake, haha!! :)Below are some more links if you want to read about the damage that eating disorders can have on your teeth:Effects on your teethEating disorder and effect on your teeth

^^I actually prefer to not smile with my teeth, but here are some where i show my teeth :)

3 comments:

I've experienced a different kind of impact anorexia had on my dental health...

I've suffered from anorexia since early spring 2013, now I'm positively recovering, but careful not to relapse. I've never purged. In autumn 2013 I had a dentist appointment - I didn't experience any toothache or anything, it was a general check-up. Turned out my dental health was a huge mess - I think I had 9 holes to repair, one dying root canal to remove... all of this took months of appointments and was really time- and money-consuming.

Needless to say that as an anorectic I wasn't exactly mrs Sweet-Tooth - I really avoided any kind of sugar during that period and tried to eat really "healthy".

So why the bad dental health?

Basically, since my body was starving, it was taking care to keep the vitally essential "systems" working in the body and everything slightly less important from a survival point of aspect just started deteriorating in the body... More simply said - my body's way of thinking was that "okay, I'm at a crisis/hunger state, I can probably survive without teeth and try to keep other things working instead".

Not something I'd go through again.

Not something I'd ever wish for anyone.

So I'd recommend that you discuss this with your nutritionist (and from personal experience, I'd say that seeing a nutritionist or a doctor who also puts focus on nutrition is a DEFINITE must for a successful recovery) instead of your dentist. The main goal would be a healthy body-mind as a whole and, as Izzy wrote, you want to overcome the fear of all foods and have a healthy relationship with food.

<3 you have such a beautiful smile izzy :) <3 thank you so much for this, its a quetion i have been worrying about ALOT recently too . i have always drank loads of hot choc and my teeth were always grand, but now i have to drink loads of juice as well as lots more sweet stuff with my hot choc and i was getting anxious about my teeth. though i dont eat jam, fizzy drinks or sugar-coated cereals so i dont like to think that they are too bad, hopefully! xxxxx

I think I have a similar problem! My dentist kept asking me about changing my diet or problems list. They told me snacking was good, but to just floss at least once a day and chew sugar free gum after lunch to keep the pH in your mouth balanced. I don't purge, but anorexia seems to impact your teeth too :( and recovery, unfortunately, if you don't take care of your teeth in between snacking.

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About Me

Hello :)
I have had Anorexia and depression for c.a 5 years and been in and out of hospital for 2 years. But now im living my life like a normal teenager, I still have my ups and downs now and again, but i still stay positive and never give up.
In my blog i write about my daily life, and my opinions and views on certain things and i bring up topics and information that i think needs to be passed on!!
Leave a comment - love reading comments from people :)
If anyone wants to get in contact with me.
Mail me here --> lifewithoutanorexia@hotmail.com